While the 2025-2026 television season officially concluded last month, Soap Opera Network can now exclusively report that CBS’ daytime lineup consisting of game shows “The Price is Right” and “Let’s Make a Deal,” and soap operas “The Young and the Restless,” “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “Beyond the Gates,” saw impressive gains among Total Viewers compared to the 2024-2025 television season, inclusive of Live+7 Big Data + Panel (2025-2026) and Live+7 Panel-only (2024-2025), with the network ranking a solid No. 1 for 40 consecutive seasons.
The combined half hours of “The Price is Right” (4.167 million) continued to rank as the most-watched daytime series overall, and “The Young and the Restless” (3.322 million) ranked as the most-watched daytime drama, a title it’s now held for 37 consecutive seasons. Meanwhile, “The Bold and the Beautiful” (2.946 million) was the second most-watched daytime drama for the 27th consecutive season.
“Beyond the Gates” (1.782 million) topped “General Hospital” for the second consecutive season among Women 25-54 (figures unavailable), with an +8% advantage over its time slot competitor, improving on the show’s +2% lead in its initial season.
On a percentage level, “Let’s Make a Deal” saw the largest season-over-season growth among the network’s programming, with the second half-hour up +12% (2.615 million vs. 2.340 million), or +275,000 viewers, while the first half-hour was up +10% (2.231 million vs. 2.020 million), or +211,000 viewers.
The two half hours of “The Price is Right” were each up +7%, with the second half-hour gaining +273,000 viewers over the prior season (4.421 million vs. 3.917 million) and the first half-hour up +272,000 (3.917 million vs. 3.645 million).
Across the four network daytime dramas, “The Bold and the Beautiful” saw the largest percentage gain, up +7% (2.946 million vs. 2.758 million), and was up the most overall, growing +188,000 viewers season-over-season.
“Beyond the Gates” saw season-over-season growth of +3% (1.782 million vs. 1.737 million), or +45,000 viewers.
“The Young and the Restless” was up +2% (3.322 million vs. 3.245 million), or +77,000 viewers.
While final Women 18-49 ratings were unavailable at press time, Live+Same Day Big Data+ Panel figures for the season saw “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Young and the Restless” tied for No. 1 among soaps in the key sales demographic, each with a 0.23 rating, marking the first time ever the former had topped the chart.
Over the summer, we reported “The Bold and the Beautiful” was on pace to win the crown among soaps, factoring in Most Current ratings data (September 22, 2025 – July 19, 2026), inclusive of Live+7 (September 22, 2025 – July 10, 2026), Live+3 (July 13-16, 2026) and Live+Same Day (July 17, 2026), with a 0.3 rating vs. 0.2 rating for “The Young and the Restless.” In fact, at the time, the soap was tied for second place overall across daytime broadcast with the first half-hour of “The Price is Right.” The second half-hour of the game show had a 0.4 rating.
Three weeks into the 2026-2027 season, “The Bold and the Beautiful, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary season, having debuted during the 1986-1987 television season (March 23, 1987), is looking to duplicate that success, currently averaging a 0.25 rating vs. 0.26 rating for “The Young and the Restless,” per current Live+Same Day Big Data+ Panel average (September 21- October 9, 2026).
Total Viewers (In Millions) – Season-To-Season Comparison
| CBS Program | 2025-2026 | 2024-2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Price is Right 2 | 4,421 | 4,148 | +273 |
| The Price is Right 1 | 3,917 | 3,645 | +272 |
| The Young and the Restless | 3,322 | 3,245 | +77 |
| The Bold and the Beautiful | 2,946 | 2,758 | +188 |
| Let’s Make a Deal 2 | 2,615 | 2,340 | +275 |
| Let’s Make a Deal 1 | 2,231 | 2,020 | +211 |
| Beyond the Gates | 1,782 | 1,737 | +45 |
Game Shows By Hour
| CBS Program | 2025-2026 | 2024-2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Price is Right | 4,167 | 3,895 | 272 |
| Let’s Make a Deal | 2,422 | 2,180 | 242 |
Starting with the 2025-2026 television season, Nielsen began calculating ratings using Live+Same Day Big Data + Panel viewing and DVR playback, defined as 3:00 a.m. – 3:00 a.m., which the measurement service noted was a way to “bring human insights to the numbers in big data sets.” The new tracking method utilized 101,000 real people from the 42,000 households (the Panel) the company had already been tracking, and grew that number to approximately 45 million Big Data households and 75 million devices from Comcast, Dish, DIRECTV, Roku and Vizio.
In early 2026, Nielsen introduced the Advertising Research Foundation’s Latency Adjusted DASH UE (Universe Estimate) survey into its reporting, and as of August 31, 2026, the service has made “key enhancements” to improve its accuracy by correcting timing delays in survey data. Universe estimates are, as the name implies, an approximation of the total number of households or persons in a particular category – in this case, media consumption capabilities of U.S. homes. While previous DASH UEs were based on 2024 survey data, Nielsen is now updating them to reflect more recent trends in consumer behavior.
Beginning August 31, 2020, national ratings include Out-of-Home (OOH) viewing. Previously, ratings did not include OOH viewing. Averages are based on regular telecasts.
Note: The weekly ratings reports we publish utilize Live+Same Day Big Data + Panel, and do not factor in delayed viewership.